Chakotay and Tom were at "Headquarters" as Tom
called it. They sat, drinking some water. Chakotay had put off the sword and
armor. Freya came in with Gesor. Chakotay and Tom stood up right away.
"This should not have happened!" said Freya. "We did not know
there would be a mounted attack" said Gesor, trying to be calm. They broke
off their argument at the sight of two staring men. Freya cleared her throat,
"Chakotay, there should not have been a prepared attack against us,"
she said thoughtfully, her anger cooling down. "But how did they
know?" asked Tom. "There has to be a spy here" said Gesor. Freya
was taken aback,

"But a spy?" "How?" she asked sputtering.
"There is no other way, our plans were only open to the village, if anyone
else knew, we all would seal the security breach" he said. "The spy
could be anyone, an adult, or child" said Freya. "A child?" asked
Tom. "But, aren't they. . .innocent?" he asked seeming slightly
stupid. "Children here are trained to be mages, and warriors. Children can
be turned into spies, it has happened enough times before" she said coldly.
Tom seemed to have struck a nerve. He backed off.

**

He and Chakotay sat in the room where they had first started
out. The boys surrounded them on the cushions. "Why did she act that way
when I asked her about spies?" asked Tom to himself. Lores heard him and
leaned closer, as if sharing a secret. "Her child was killed when she was
caught spying on the Empress two years ago, she's never been the same about her
or them ever since." he said. "She had a child?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, her name was Nessa. She wasn't much older than me and actually volunteered
to spy. We all tried to stop her, but it was no use. For a while, we didn't see
Freya" he said, then went away. Tom thought about it and knew Lores was
right.

**

The Empress didn't agree with me. She refused. Thought
Kathryn Janeway numbly as she stumbled on the streets.

I failed Freya, Carmione, my people! I can't face them
again. She felt waves of sadness, self-pity, and anger was over her.

I won't make the same mistake, I won't subject my
people to my failure. I won't hurt anyone again She thought, and made up her
mind.

**

Carmione walked the city streets with he hair tied neatly
behind her head, she never wore it this way and it made her look very different,
all for the better. Freya had sent her to look for the Emissary who had not yet
returned. Carmione was worried for her. She weaved through the traffic and
people and found the Emissary sitting on the steps of the Senate, she was
relieved. She ran over and gave her a quick hug, the Emissary looked up,
surprised.

"It's me, Carmione" she said. "Oh" said
Janeway. Carmione wondered what was wrong with her, but finding her distracted
Carmione and she led her back to their village.

**

Tom had almost gotten around to telling Chakotay the end of
the reason Freya bit his head off before, when Perrin came full throttle at
them. "The Emissary is back!!" he said. Tom jerked back instinctively
from the boy's sudden speed, then put his head back in the position it was in
before. "Thanks Perrin" said Chakotay. And they stood up to take their
Captain back to Voyager.

**

On Voyager, it was strangely quiet. Chakotay, back in uniform,
wondered why. The Captain was also acting strange and she hadn't come out of her
ready room once. He decided to check on her.

Stepping through the doors, what he saw horrified him. The
room had been trashed and the vase she had on her tea table was violently
smashed and the remains littered the floor. "Kathryn?" he called
almost frightened. He heard a faint, "Damn, and ouch" He went to the
desk. "Kathryn?" he asked again. "Leave me be!" she said.
"No I won't , what the hell happened?" he said. "Nothing,
everything's for your good" she muttered and he traced the sounds from
under the desk. He knocked gently, "Kathryn" he said.

She seemed to have lost it, "Stop it! Just stop it! Go
away! Dammit! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" she bellowed the last sentence.
He wouldn't let her do whatever she was going to do and he was not going to get
the hell away from her, with great effort, he pushed the table aside.

Janeway sat on the floor, with her hair out of place. She
fumbled with something in her hands, he tried to get a closer look, but she
screamed at him. Then he realized it was a shard of glass, long thick glass from
the vase. Her fingers were bleeding and she kept playing with it, trying to get
a good grip without nicking herself more. "Kathryn, give the glass to
me" he said slowly. "No!" she said like a child not giving up a
plaything. "Give it to me, now!" he said, he held out his hand.
"Let me die in peace" she said almost sounding exasperated.
"Die?" he whispered. She finally found a way to hold the long sharp
and began to raise it in the air. "No!" he shouted. and lunged
at it.

**

Time seemed to slow and he felt like he was flying. In slow
motion, he grabbed the glass and flung in away. He landed hard on the floor face
first. "You!" she started. "I hate you!" she shrieked and
dived towards the glass. He grabbed her and smoothed her hair, "what the
hell were you trying to do?" he asked over and over. Her hands kept groping towards the glass. She's going to need medical help he realized
and somehow managed to tap his commbadge. "Chakotay to sickbay, emergency
medical beam up for two" he said and they disappeared.